Learning to Breath Again
by MissNys
Summary: The first inhale is always the hardest. the second is a wonder, the third is adicting. He didnt make it past the first before he found his purpose in his new life. now he only had to convince Naruto to just take it like a man.
1. Chapter 1

**Learning to Breath Again.**

Warning: language for sure and some other stuff but I'm just making this one up on the fly so I'll update the warnings as I think of them.

Pairings: no clue. Suggestions welcome for either het or slash.

**Prologue:**

It was like the first breath after being on the verge of death. Sweet and clear but laced with a painful ache that could drive you to a second death. Well he was breathing now after years, centuries, eons of drowning in his own burning rage. The hate and agony that had dictated his life for so long was still pressing on him, trying to drag him under with its relentless undertow. Only his fist moment of real clarity, staring at the beautiful, if bloodied, face of a child too pretty to be a boy through eyes not his own. Clarity was a horrible thing to attain, especially when one has wallowed in violence for so long. So he retreated, behind his hate and fury, trying to straiten out the chaotic links in his consciousness, a small sense of detached horror but very little sympathy for all the lives he had blindly eradicated. It took time to sort out his memories, as jumbled as they were, and he was more than a little surprised at the information gathered in the last decade and a half.

He watched, with growing intrigue, as the years passed by in an undetermined amount of time. He witnessed his instinctive attempt to carry out the will of the Mother, like he had ages past, and saw the people, different from what he half remembered, defend their home with more honor than he thought possible. The blonde human standing on a giant toad even found a way to trap him in the adaptive powers of a newborn babe. The same babe through whom he spent the next decade experiencing a life that echoed his own childhood, bringing back memories he hadn't even know he had forgotten. All of this was viewed behind a veil of apathy that did not lift until some outside force engulfed and locked down the anger that had defined him for so long.

It was his first inhale of sanity in over three millennium and he knew only one thing for certain. Every reason he now had to continue existing rested within the bright irrepressible blond boy that still housed his rage.

**Chapter 1:**

Awareness came with the sounds of battle. His master slept still so he could see not see the source but he heard the echos of various voices bouncing off the walls of his prison. It had been so long but he recognized the noises of battle and ached to realize that every voice was that of a child. Likely ones that were of age with his master. Stepping up the bars of the cage holding him he studied the lock and the small slip of paper that was deceptively strong. The logic and skill behind it impressed him along with the sacrifice involved with creating it. Lifting a thin pale hand, he placed it between the large gap between the bars. The resistance was palpable and the barrier burned his palm but it didn't stop him slowly sliding past. The smile that bloomed was painful to his unused muscles, though he was sure that the pain was merely psychological. His body was no longer physically alive after all.

Taking a moment to gather his recently returned will, he steeled himself against the agony to come and stepped forward. Power the colour of blood erupted from his skin as it passed through the invisible barrier. He knew it was the essence of his rage that the seal was meant to hold. It coalesced behind him, taking the shape of the monster he had become. No matter the reasons for his decent into madness, no matter that he was not the only one to do so, his past actions labelled him as one of the monsters that he had once devoted himself to destroying. Then again, it is often that one does become what one hunts. He did not regret his choices, as they had been necessary at the time, and he could not fault the others in following him, but he mourned the pain he had caused with the unforeseen repercussions that had resulted.

Growling erupted behind him as the head of his alternate formed fully, its body and still expanding slowly as more power fled his human form. He was half way through the cage when the growls morphed into words. They were nonsensical but he grasped the gist of it as the embodiment of his rage railed at the injustice of his imprisonment. He knew it was partial true, as he had only been following the will of the Mother, but the old methods were no longer valid. His imprisonment had made him aware of that. With most of his right side still sinking through the barrier, he wondered if his comrades had succumbed to the same fate as him. There was a sharp clang that jarred the bars, not affecting the seal but making an awful ruckus as the bulk of his body slipped out of the cage, a glance to the left showed the enormous claws of his alter shoved through the bars as far as they could go. Twisting as the last of his body left the barrier, he saw the full force of his rage snarling and thrashing behind the barricade. He understood now the fear that he had seen in the face of countless victims that had been caught in his path.

"_**How DARE you!"**_ That terrible and and familiar voice rasped against his senses. **_"How dare you escape this accursed prison! Free me insect or I shall consume the very soul you hope to regain!"_**

He sighed softly, pity and sorrow clear on his face, sending the other into another fit. "Remember what you are. I am no more an insect than you are a demon."

"_**I am you! I am all that you will ever be! Leaving me in this fur-less monkey will not change the past. You cannot escape what you are."**_

"And I have no intention of escaping, but what you are, what you represent, is no longer necessary to carry out Her will. I am still bound just as you are but I have regained something you have never experienced."

"_**Everything you have came from me! We are one in the same! Running changes nothing!"**_

His eyes narrowed at the claim and he wondered where this arrogance had come from. Too long with no one to answer to besides the Mother, he assumed, but it was odd that it was a facet to his rage not his personality as a whole. The beast's constant growl stuttered at the look.

"I know there is many things that I have forgotten in the passage of so much time, but there is one thing I know for certain. You are only a piece of me. Never were you the sum of the parts." the giant creature retreated a step, flinching from the truth of it, "You may have had control to satisfy Her needs but all that you are came from me. Was birthed from _**me**_."

The beast settled, malevolent red eyes staring into emerald green. _**"Birthed from you... yet you abandon me to this hell."**_

"Never. As I said, I have regained something you have never experienced. Clarity." the horrible anger that the beast represented was still roiling beneath the thing's fur but it was listening now, "We are bound to our vessel, linked to his life, and when he dies, so will we follow. If I had stayed drowning in my fury, in you, then all that would happen would be lending him power and attempts to take control."

"_**I will never stop striving for my freedom."**_ it growled lowly but mostly to itself.

Green eyes shifted to the slip of paper holding the gate tightly shut, reading the meaning and intent of the seal. "You will have freedom," he agreed, "but not in the way you expect. Your power came from my anger and because of my connection to Her, you are the strongest of all of us that chose this path. That is the power this seal traps and why I was able to separate us without sacrificing myself. The blonde one that created it was exceptional clever with the fail-safe he added. One that has already started to come into affect."

"_**Enough evasion! Explain!"**_ it snarled.

"That first time you willingly pushed your power into the boy triggered the secondary seal that overlays the initial trapping seal. Your power is being filtered and absorbed into his system and seeing as how I forsook my physical body eons ago, once the process is finished you will become a part of the boy."

"_**And you are preventing your own demise by abandoning the part of yourself that is trapped."**_

He shook his head. "You misunderstand. The seal only filters the malevolence in the power. I would continue to exist in a half state with no awareness until the boy dies. Like I said, you will merge with the boy only the basis of your power will no longer be my rage, it will be the boy. As it is, I am just as bound to him, though I can take a more active role by creating an organic structure for my consciousness."

"_**You would subvert you own will for this pathetic meat bag? When you could destroy them all with a thought?"**_ it sneered, disgusted.

He closed his eyes with a quiet sight, the sounds of battle still raging in his ears. "It has been such a very long time since I have had a reason to live."

"_**SHE is why we live! Only Her will matters!" **_the beast roared, three of its tails smacking the bars with enough force make them shake. He watched, unworried.

"No. She is the reason I _exist_." the beast stilled at the admission, "It has been so very very long since I have _lived_. If you watch the child's life I am sure you will come to understand. One day."

He left then, making his way through corridors of decrepit sewers that held the boy's hopes memories and dreams. The beast did nothing to stop him, not even attempting to call him back. He followed the path of dreams, amused at the dream he was caught in where he was gallantly saving a pink haired female from an effeminate male enemy that made his gut clench with disgust. A soft whisper of the Mother in his mind warned him to be wary of the figure, and he somehow knew that the face of the enemy was fake. It brought to mind the reason why he he had first come to this part of the world in the first place but now was not the time to dwell on it as another feeling invaded his senses.

Considering the vile power he had been steeped in for so long, this new sensation was not strong enough to to cause him fear. It was, however, dangerously near to his currently unconscious master.

The sun danced on the forest floor between the arching cave of roots catching his attention and drew his eye from the lush greenery and near overpowering smell of nature. The stray beam of light pulled his awed gaze to the shock of blond hair that rivalled the source of the light itself. He couldn't resist kneeling beside the prone figure in orange. He was so much smaller than he had he had imagined and his bulky jumpsuit made him seem even smaller. He was reaching out before he even realized it, his own milk pale skin as shock against his healthy tan. Tracing the dark lines that marked their connection he was reminded of his own scar that tied him to a great evil once upon a forgotten time. Then he lost himself in the soft, smooth texture of of the skin beneath his fingertips, the warmth emitted drawing him even closer.

That was when the words began to seep in past the fog on his brain that had been intoxicated by the sudden influx of so many forgotten sensations. The dangerous power he had sensed from within his master seemed to be flowing out of the boy that had been laying next to him a moment before. A pink haired female, the same one from the dream only with considerably shorter locks, was badly beaten just outside of the cave. In front of her, between them and what he assumed was the enemy, were three children around the same age as his master. The blonde female was unconscious but alive, though he could feel no soul within her, in the arms of a thin boy with oddly prickly hair while a heavy set male hovered worriedly beside them. Another boy, in some sort of peculiar green body suit was unconscious and badly injured off the side, another two waiting above him in the trees with only a slight amount of aggression in their body language. The assumed enemies were strangely dressed for a day in a jungle with their beige camouflage outfits. The heavily bandaged one was obviously the leader but the gravity -defying-hair'ed one with the modified arms was too brash to follow well. The girl was confusing as he tried to analyze her until it dawned on him that the one who had no soul had simply transferred it to this girl, essentially controlling her. It was an interesting and slightly terrifying technique that had so many horrifying ways of going wrong.

All this took a second in time for him to see and he never even lifted his eyes from the one that now held his leash.

"Sasuke! You're awake!" the pinkette crowed in apparent relief. All eyes shifted to the Raven that was struggling to his feet, that putrid power roiling off his body and manifesting as a black infection of squiggly tattoos on his skin.

"Sakura..." the boys voice was surprisingly deep but that might have been a side affect of the corruption. "point out the one who pummelled you into that state."

The girl just stared in disbelief.

"It was us." the reckless enemy announced brashly a smug look on his face.

"Sasuke... your bo-" her eyes slid past the Raven for an instant to check on the blond, and she tensed at the sight of him. He was a little disappointed that it had taken this long. Her sudden tensing had the other, Sasuke, spinning with astonishing speed.

"Get away from him!" the boy snarled, filled with venom and threats. He did not respond as the cocky enemy used the distraction to aim his enhanced arms at the root-cave. He felt the gathering of power and raised his free hand in a lazy, two fingered 'wait' gesture. The blast of destructive wind was released before the others could call out a warning, but he was ready. The slicing attack crashed and swirled around the wide shield that flared a light green for an instant, the pale eyed boy in the tree crying out in pain and clutching at his eyes for some reason. Momentum interrupted, the attack dispersed harmlessly, leaving a gaping crowd staring through the haze of up-kicked dust. He used those bare seconds to raid the supplies of those near with his powers, acquiring a suitable substitute for clothing as he realized suddenly that he was naked.

Off white bandages wrapped around his body, molding to his skin from his knees to his collar bone, leaving his neck and shoulders clear before continuing down his biceps to his hands. Both his hands and feet were encased firmly with gauze in the standard support and protection patterns, but were otherwise bare. The only other coverings he found was a mesh shit that was just short of his navel and a skirt-slash-shorts that barely left him any dignity. Not that he truly cared all that much. He didn't bother with his wild hair, a shade of black that the only highlights seemed silver, as it tumbled down his back deciding that he would deal with it later.

Rocking smoothly to his feet, he regretfully removed his fingers from that heady warmth. He didn't straighten fully, for the roots were too low, but he came out of the shelter with a feline glide, unperturbed by the stares. He stopped, abreast with Sasuke, and stared into enraged crimson orbs. He was curious about the extra pupils he seemed to have but felt no immediate threat from the boy. He may be trying to intimidate him, and the foreign power made his skin crawl, but it was nothing that was any threat to himself. Sadly it was affecting the mind of the boy and he could not risk the child slipping into insanity and harming his master. Red eyes shot wide as the boy realized that his body was no longer responding to his wished, the paralysis allowing the stranger to lightly tap the source of the corruption. Like a hole in a bucket, the squiggly tattoos sucked back into the mark like a drain, the blackened wound seeming to pulse with malice. He release the child who collapsed, clutching the suddenly numb area.

He barely registered the pink headed one, Sakura, scuttling past to check on her companion. Instead he focused on the trio of fools. The brash one was scowling, the leader hanging back to asses this new threat, and the girl still possessed.

"I don't know what the hell kind of jutsu that was but it wont work twice." Brash One yelled, bringing his arms to bare once again. He didn't block the ... jutsu... this time, simply dissipated the air that was supporting it. He barely felt the breeze, his feet continuing his unfaltering advance on the trio.

"Ino! If you stay in that form you will get dragged into this!" the spiky haired boy took off abruptly the girl's body in his arms, and a brief hand gesture from the possessed body had the soul returning to its rightful container. The group of three vacated the immediate area quickly, for which he was grateful. He flicked aside another wind attack and sighed at the repetitive and unimaginative onslaught. The fact that the group was fairly spread out was also not something he liked.

Frustrated, he pointed at the still prone female who was just watching everything in shock. A sharp jerk of his hand had her dragged across the forest floor with a scream, her fingers digging into the dirt. It was a foolish attempt and only succeeded int tearing out a few fingernails before her body collided with their leaders. A repeat motion with the brash boy sent him flying to his comrades.

"What the hell is this!" the bandaged leader finally regained some of himself, though he left his teammates on the ground behind him, "Our fight's not with you but if I've got to kill you to finish our mission then I've got no problem."

He watched as the teenager charged him with his metal encased arm and caught the fist inches from his face. There was a resonating chime that was almost too high a register for him to catch but it ruptured his eardrum and made him dizzy approximately three seconds. He blinked slowly as the damage righted itself and he regained his equilibrium.

"That," he was surprised at the sound of his own voice, noting that it made the teen shiver, "was annoying." Perhaps all that roaring and growling as his alternate had made his voice more smokey than smooth. His hand convulsed in his ire and the sharp crack of the boys fist breaking fill the air.

"AAAAHHH!" he screamed when he was thrown back to his companions.

"Enough of this." he was getting incredibly bored and all her wanted was to curl around the sweet blond boy that ruled hi thoughts. A palm up raising motion had the trio suspended in mid air, arms trapped by an invisible force above their heads. The brash one was spewing curses that didn't amuse him so he broke his arms just below the elbows to shut him up. Assured that there would be no more interruptions he continued voicing his thoughts. "You meant to kill the one under my protection. I cannot allow your survival lest you try again."

The leader struggled harder as he raised his hand, his single eye wide with fear as he realized the danger they were all in. "W-wait! We were only f-f-following orders. He was not meant to have the marks so our instructions are invalid until we confirm things." Marks? His master had no marks beyond the scars on his cheeks. "Allow us to live and we will withdraw peacefully. We will even leave you our scroll."

Apparently this scroll was supposed to be important, more than one of the watching groups perked up with the words. He let the leader drop heavily. "Show me."

Careful of his injured hand, the enemy produced a small cylinder with the character for earth on the side of it. Summoning the piece offering he let the others drop, the scroll hitting his palm with a smack. "You try this again and your lives are forfeit."

The teen nodded hastily, gathering up his teammate as he murmured his gratitude over and over again.

"Wait!" the girl, Sakura yelled out suddenly. "You've got to tell me! Who is Orochimaru? What did he do to Sasuke? And... and why was Sasuke chosen?"

The words made not only the enemy team stop but him as well. The bandaged leader seemed about to answer when a smothering blanket of power filled the area. Birds erupted from the trees and animals of all sizes scattered away from the epicentre. Inside his head the Mother was screaming her anger and rage though he no longer let it consume him. A false wind blew through the clearing, lifting his wild mane of hair back and away form his face. The thick locks that had previously obscured his features exposed pale, sharp features and jewel green eyes that pierced them with terror.

"Orochimaru?" the name was hissed as if it was a word that would dirty the very air just by speaking it. No longer was his voice that smokey, inviting tenor, it was a rumbling growl that vibrated in the chest of those that heard it and left them breathless with fear.

"I don't know!" the leader cried out, "We were just following orders. That's all!" They were gone as soon as the words left his mouth. He could have dragged them back if he wanted to but it was too much effort for something he knew they had no knowledge of. He had been fortunate enough to make eye contact with the leader for an instant was all he needed to gain all his secrets. Dosu didn't have nearly enough will power to keep his mind safe from invasion.

The sudden peace in the area nearly shocked the spectators as the oppressing power diminished almost instantly. The spiky ponytail boy recovered the quickest, racing out of the bushes to aid his comrades. Only then did he notice that every one left in the clearing was wearing a strip of cloth and metal with the same spiralled leaf symbol carved. Dosu and his team had had ones with musical notes carved in them, and they belonged to some village called Hidden Sound, so it must be a sign of affiliation. The group as a whole ignored him past carefully skirting around him. Only the Raven, Sasuke, stared at him with suspicion and growing anger.

"So..." Spiky Hair approached him first. His female teammate, Ino, was assisting the green clothed boy while his heavy set companion poked his master with a stick. "Who are you?"

Not really paying attention beyond the amusing scene with his charge, he tugged on the unruly locks of hair that were once again obscuring his face. It was highly annoying. "A servant."

"What village do you belong to?"

He didn't even know the names of the villages so it wasn't something he could bluff with. "No village. I serve only my master." he tucked the scroll under his arm for a second while he grabbed a handful of hair. A few efficient moves later and the left side of his head was braided tightly to his skin, the rest of the mass of hair gathered over his left shoulder and secured in a sort of ponytail with a small piece of string. A few tumbling locks , too short for the tie to hold, framed the right side of his face. Spiky Hair blinked at the change, making him wonder at how he looked.

"Who is-" his words were cut off by the exaggerated cry of terror from a familiar voice. He couldn't stop his entire body from tensing in an automatic response to his masters cry. He relaxed with a soft giggle as the blond dove to the ground, obviously still caught in his dream. The teen beside him sighed heavily. "He's got no impulse control at all, I swear."

That pulled another giggle from the servant, who abandoned the semi-conversation to go join his exuberant master as he hovered over his injured teammates. He got there just in time to catch the blonde as Sakura sent him flying with a punch for nicknaming the green clad one. Who's name was apparently Lee. The blonde didn't seem to notice until he was set fully on his feet and he could not stop himself from wrapping the boy in his bandaged arms. The boy's body went ramrod strait at the unfamiliar body pressed against his own. He couldn't help it, burying his face in the heavy mass of golden hair to inhale the scent of pine and a sharp spice that he couldn't name. His own loose hair fell forward to half cover both their faces.

"Uh... guys? Wh-what is going on?" He could feel the little tremors under the boys skin and was impressed that his voice was as steady as it was. The small group of children experienced various stages of amusement ad the sight of the extremely uncomfortable blonde. Only Sasuke was scowling at the duo, a hand reaching to cover the tainted mark on his skin.

"This is the guy that drove off those sound ninja." Spiky Hair sidled up beside them, a smirk on his normally bland face. He retaliated by rubbing his cheek against the soft strands of sunlight. The fact that the boy actually squeaked at the action was just a bonus.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke sneered, "And why did you interfere with our fight?"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped, "He saved us!"

"No." His master's breath hitched at the sound of his muffled voice. "They meant to harm my master. Only he matters."

"But they were after Sasuke-kun." Sakura looked between the two Ravens, confused. Spiky Hair was the one to put the pieces together.

"The attack he blocked with that... shield thing was aimed at all three of you. I think the fact that they were only after Uchiha was irrelevant."

"So... _Naruto_ is your master?" the blond, Ino, could not keep the disbelief from her voice.

"No way!" Heavy Set blurted.

"To be so committed to one at such a young age is truly admirable. Your spring time of youth is in full bloom Naruto-kun, to have acquired such a loyal friend." the girl with two hair buns face-palmed at Lee's exuberant announcement.

"I don't get it." Naruto tried to scratch his head but got a hand full of ebony locks instead. He stared at the hair that slid through his fingers like silk with a glazed sense of shock.

"What it means is that this guy has pledged his life to serve you and that means protecting you when you can't protect yourself." Spiky Hair heaved a frustrated sigh. "What I want to know is why you showed up now all of a sudden."

"Only recently was I able to gain my freedom. All that mattered was reaching my master." Reluctantly he let his arms fall from the small shoulders, allowing Naruto to stumble away from him. "Where am I anyways?"

They all stared, gape mouthed.

**AN: **that is it. A new story that just popped up. I think I'm going to try and plough through the Chunin exams with as few changes as possible. As you may have noticed, Sasuke doesn't like the newest addition to the group. Naruto has no clue about what is going on and is still waiting for it to sink in. There will be a bigger impact in the month between battles were our MPD Kyuubi has a chat with the Hokage and Ibiki. I still have to think of a human name for the alternate personality so any suggestion is welcome, but please include meanings for the names cause I have no readily available internet connection to hunt them down my self. My time is limited to once or twice a week and I would rather spend that time updating my stories for your viewing pleasure.

Hope this one lives up to my current standards... if I have any... I think I do. Good lord I need a Beta.


	2. Chapter 2

**Warnings:** Language and blood shed. A lot of violence and major apathy from the MPD Kyuubi.

AN: Another chapter for one of my more random stories. I don't know if this concept has been thought up before but it just hit me one day while I was trying to type up another chapter of WiaFB and I just couldn't let it go until I had at least the first chapter done. Didn't even get the chance to write it in one of my note books like usual. Now the plot is just spawning in my head as I type so I'm going to get as much out as I can before the ides run out. Don't worry, I am not going to stop updating my other stories.

For those of you that wonder why I am bent on Harry (for that is who the Kyuubi originally was) having a new name it is because he doesn't remember anything about his past. It was so long ago and he has been trapped in his own mind for most of that time that the details of his mortal life are blurry and chaotic at best. Hence the new name.

**Chapter 2:**

"How can you not know where you are?" The blond female, Ino, yelled at him. He decided he didn't like her and her grating voice so he ignored her, instead turning to his attention to the fascinating mystery of Spiky-Hair's hair. It was surprisingly soft considering how well it kept its shape, and he had to wonder if these humans had some kind of special treatment for their hair. "Hey! Don't ignore me!"

"You are in the Forest of Death, a training area in Konoha. Do you know knew where that is?" Spiky Hair was sharp, weathering the molestation of his scalp with ease, and it earned him his acknowledgement and the right to a few answers.

"Relatively. It is the master's home. That is all that matters. I am tied to his life, his Chakra," a word, picked out from the mind of Dosu, that they used to explain the power they utilize, "so I can always find him. You are interesting. What do they call you?"

A lazy eyebrow arched at the declaration and dark brown eyes looked to his master. Naruto shrugged helplessly, obviously not sure what to do with this situation. "Nara Shikamaru. What about you? What's your name?"

"Name?" He withdrew away from all the teenagers. He knew he was once had a name, one that had been important, but he felt that it wasn't one he wanted to remember. "No. My master has not given me one yet." And that solved that problem.

"Me? Why do I have to name you?" the small blonde edged behind his pink teammate.

"You don't," he couldn't help but smile at the boy's antics, "I need no name for I will guard and protect you regardless." The boy flushed and looked away letting the interesting Shikamaru continue to handle the situation.

"Look, you can't be protecting him right now because we are in the middle of the Chunin exams. With your powers that would be an unfair advantage and Naruto should be able to advance due to his own strengths."

He studied the three groups of children clinically, "A... test? Have I interfered already?"

"No," Sakura rushed to reassure, "there was already interference from that snake guy. Those Oto-nin were here under his orders so it is more like you evened the odds. We just have to find scrolls for ourselves now."

"Scrolls... was yours taken by the abomination?"

"... you mean Orochimaru? Yeah, he took it." Sasuke glared as hard as he could, highly put out that he had been ignored for the majority of the conversation.

"Then you will take this to make it equal." he held the tube that the enemy had surrendered to him. The wide eyes of the trio told him that they had completely forgotten that he had it. He tossed it lazily so that it arched just enough to land on his master's head with a little puff. He had to warn off the white eyed male that had tensed in preparation of an attempt to grab it.

Nara Shikamaru sighed heavily beside him, regaining his lacklustre visage. "Well whatever, we should head out. See you guys later." Ino, who had been fixing Sakura's hair, protested loudly but followed along like her big boned teammate. The older team vacated the area, dragging the exuberant Lee who was waxing poetic about the greatness of youth and camaraderie. Sasuke snatched the Earth scroll off the blonde, stuffing it into his pack.

"Lets go." the arrogant boy snarled, stalking off without waiting for the others to agree.

"But- Sasuke-kun! Wait!" Sakura spared only a second to cast him a worried glance before running after her crush.

He didn't care, only having eyes for his master, who was staring at him with no little amount of awkwardness. "What will you do? Will you be okay on your own?"

"I will follow you always. For now I will not interfere unless you are in danger of dieing. Survival is not an issue." he wanted to hug the boy again but it looked like he would bolt if he so much as twitched.

"Eri." Naruto said firmly. His head tilted in confusion that must have been clear. "Your name. No one should be denied a name."

It was a good thing that Sasuke chose that moment to yell at his teammate, giving his master the excuse to leave him in the clearing alone, because if anyone had seen the smile that bloomed on the pale face,t they might have died from blood loss. As it was, Naruto would have to resign himself to some friendly molestation once the exam was over.

Tracking the group of children was embarrassingly easy. Not only were they loud and unaware of anything beyond their immediate vicinity, but they could barely forage enough to survive. No matter how funny it was to watch his master flail about in the water to scare up some fish, with their shinobi skills they should be able to spear the fish in the water fairly easily. Not to mention the wild fruit and mushrooms that he had been collecting along the way that they hadn't even glanced at. He was also disappointed that they had missed the three teams that had passed by in the last few days but then the other teams had missed his master's as well. He assumed that the children in this test were not as advanced as most of the shinobi in the Villages and that this was perhaps a hurdle for those looking to advance. The strongest were likely already at the finish point. Though he had to wonder at how far his master would have gotten if they hadn't been 'interrupted' in those first days. He swore to himself that when his master was free of this test he would have to fill in some of the holes in his training. It took all of six hours to realize the ambitions of his master, it helped that a petty argument with Sasuke had the blonde yelling about becoming the Hokage. Only Sakura's quick fists quieted him before they drew unwanted attention.

If Master Naruto wanted to become the leader of his village then it was his duty to facilitate that goal. Even if it was the same village that had imprisoned him all those years ago. He didn't blame the village and he couldn't begrudge others protecting their own for that same urge was what had gotten him into his predicament, only his 'own' was something far more obscure than a loved one. Somewhere along the way he had lost his humanity in his attempts to protect it. Devoting himself to his master was probably not the best way to regain a sense of belonging to the world again, but it was better than wandering blind with no ties whatsoever. Being tied to a boy like Naruto was also no hardship. He was so innocent but the memories he had viewed told of a strength and conviction that he hadn't seen in a millennium. With a leader like that a village like this could prosper beyond the prejudice that infested its civilians, but it would take quite a bit for him to get through to the masses. Naruto was a worthy individual to attach himself to, now he just had to show that to the rest of these people. If that meant guiding him and training him into one of the strongest beings this world has ever seen then so be it.

First he had to watch them get through this test, and hopefully watch his master succeed, then he would have to convince his master that he needed the training. Naruto had sealed his contract of servitude by giving him a name but it was ironic that, though he had no clue as to what 'Eri' stood for in these times, his new name meant 'My protector' in a language so old it had been ancient when he was mortal. He would live up to it no matter the cost.

The building was surprisingly large but blended well with the forest. He could understand why it was so hard for allot of the contestants to find their way, especially since more than a few were from other hidden villages. Master Naruto and his teammates finally split from the older ninja that had assisted them in the final hours. Eri had not attempted to get close enough to read the man mainly because it seemed that the group under his protection had previous relations with the man. He had also gained a bit of grace by saving Naruto during the fight for their last scroll. Now that they were leaving the cover of the forest, he wrapped himself with the minimum amount of chakra that gave him a type of invisibility from all the senses. He slipped in through the gap above the teens and watched from the balcony as they debated about the meaning of the message on the wall and whether it meant they should open the scrolls or not. Eri thought it was pretty clear in both of its meanings. Yes they were to open the scrolls but it also meant that those strong in mind should strive to improve on the body an vise-versa. Only a balanced individual would really succeed in life.

The debate lasted only moments and Eri was curious enough to contemplate just snatching one of those scrolls to see what was so important inside. Thankfully Naruto-sama and the pinkette pulled them open with trepidation. He was disappointed to see a simple summoning seal on the white paper. They managed to toss them away in time for the man with the scarred nose to materialize and greet them. He looked interesting and Eri had to wonder where he got his scar but it was a point in his favour that he didn't have an outrageous hairstyle. He was also a good deal stronger than any of the teens but him mild manner and obvious affection for Naruto hid it. Naruto's immediate recuperation from his earlier exhaustion was no surprise to the male so he must have previous experience with the Jinchuuriki's hyper activeness. Add to that the expression of pride and exasperation, Eri could safely say that he would trust the man with his master.

He zoned out on the rest of the explanation as it was nothing he didn't already know and the guy just had one of those voices that either drew you in or put you to sleep. For Eri, it appeared to be the latter. He barely startled into consciousness when they left the room, Eri being only lucid enough to trail after them into the next area of examination. It was larger than the last room, fitting the twenty-one children and sixteen adults with vast ease while still having space for the giant hand statue at the far end. Eri had to wonder if his sluggishness was due to spending his last few days vigilantly watching over his charge instead of sleeping. His body was human once more with most of its weaknesses but he hadn't thought it would affect him so quickly. His attention turned internal as he tried to rectify the situation, now was not the time to take a nap especially since his master was starting the one-on-one fights. Focusing on his lymphatic system and glands he stimulated the production of adrenalin and endorphins and a few other hormones that had him snapping awake.

It was fortunate that he had opted to stay by the doors while he fixed his fatigue for when his eyes opened he was treated to the sight of the arrogant child, Sasuke, slamming his opponent into the ground with a kick. Eri ignored him and the grey haired male that came to collect him to jog up to the balcony that Naruto-sama was watching the action from. Keeping his steps light he slipped past the three other teams that preceded his master and crept up behind the blond. He dropped the masking shield an instant before his arms wrapped around the small shoulders. Sakura, who had been turning to answer a question let out a small scream gaining the attention of the fighter boy, Lee and his team. They all started at his sudden appearance but no one had as good a reaction as Naruto. The blonde flailed uselessly in his arms spitting curses and nonsensical words until he realized that only one person would ambush him with hugs.

"Jeez, Eri, you scared the crap out of me." Naruto relaxed almost fully into the embrace and it made Eri wonder. How often did someone do this for his master? "What are you doing here?"

"No longer will my presence interfere so I came to support you, Master." propping his chin on Naruto's shoulder he glanced at the fight below. "Insect minions... how odd."

"Kinda creepy," Naruto agreed, "but dead useful." the arms of the brash sound nin exploded punctuate his claim. "I thought you broke that guys arms."

"I did. The breaks were clean. If they were reset well and bound tightly he would retain at least basic mobility. His weapon of choice doesn't need any finesse." he took the chance to inhale against the delicate skin of the boys neck just below the ear, his face half smothered by the ruffles on Naruto's ridiculous orange jacket. His master tensed at the contact, obviously repressing a shiver, and Eri could feel the odd looks they were getting from the other ninja.

"Yo." Naruto jumped so bad he nearly dislodged Eri's arms but the he had felt the coming of the Grey-One and adjusted accordingly.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cried out. Eri supposed that she and Naruto competed for the position of 'Most Vocal' in their team. "What do you mean 'Yo'? Tell us about Sasuke, is he alright?"

"He's fine, sound asleep in the infirmary." The lazy grey eye shifted to Eri who hadn't even attempted to let go of Naruto. "Who's you friend?"

Sakura went from relieved to awkward in an instant, they must not have mentioned their little adventure yet. "He, uh, saved us from the Sound-nin the came to kill Sasuke-kun after that guy had attacked us."

"Hm. What do I call your saviour?" the suspicion was instant and sharp in the gaze, if not the voice, that was taking in every detail of his appearance and behaviour.

"Eri. His name is Eri." Naruto answered almost defensively and his human blanket tightened for a second, but he was immediately distracted by the contestants of the next fight. "Hey, hey, who do you think will win?"

Eri took a moment to study the two males as they clashed. "The puppet will win."

"Puppet? What puppet?" Sakura squinted at the contestants.

"I suppose you cant hear it but the boy in that disturbing embrace," he nodded to the Sand-nin wrapped in the limbs of the overly flexible Leaf-nin, "has no heartbeat. The bundle on the ground does and there are chakra strings attached between the two."

"He's right." Kakashi confirmed, even as the puppet's neck snapped. They all watched as the marionette was revealed and used to break the majority of the Leaf-nin's bones.

"B-but that's two against one! How is that fair?"

Eri couldn't help ruffling his hair at Naruto's blatant naivety, "The puppet is just a tool like a kunai or shuriken. How effective it is depends on the mastery of the wielder."

"How did you hear his heartbeat from all the way up here?" Lee's female teammate spoke up for the first time since his arrival.

"Chakra enhanced senses." he lied.

"Wow! Will you teach me how to do it?" Naruto practically vibrated with his excitement.

He released him enough to straiten up and smile down into his master's eager face. It looked like convincing him to train would not be an issue. "I will teach you anything you wish to learn, Master."

The blonde grinned widely then scrunched up his face. "Would you stop calling me 'Master'? It's weird."

"As you wish Ouji-sama." Kakashi had gone ridged behind them.

"That's even worse!"

"Oh look, Sakura-san is up next." he smirked as his master became thoroughly distracted. The smirk grew into a smile when he realized that no matter how excited or rowdy the blonde became on behalf of his teammate, he never attempted to extricate himself from Eri's loose hug. The actual fight was pathetically long and Eri barely withheld himself from commenting, if only for the sake of his Naruto's sensibilities. One thing was for certain, neither of the girls was worthy of his Master's romantic affections and he would have to find a way to open the young boys eyes from his rose tinted view. Sakura wasn't very versatile in her abilities, with her low stamina and lack of jutsu, her only saving grace was her chakra control. Now she only had to get enough chakra for it to matter. Ino had some interesting talents with her mind controlling technique but it was weak against anyone with a strong enough will. If they were talented enough, an enemy could even trap her in their mind, leaving her body vulnerable. He assumed that there was more advanced versions of the technique that were more effective but the one she used was useless on the real field of battle and she had nothing else to offer. Eri was not surprised that neither would be advancing.

The next fight was far more interesting, between a foreign Kunoichi and the bun haired teammate of Lee. The girl, who Lee loudly proclaimed as Tenten, had impressive accuracy with the weapons she had, but her focus was too varied. Too bad she had the bad luck to be put against this particular opponent.

"She put down Tenten's weapons attack like it was nothing." Pale-Eyes murmured in disbelief.

"Impossible!" Lee looked like he was physically struggling.

"It is not so strange." Two teenage faces snapped to Eri's direction.

"What do you mean?" Naruto tilted his head back to stare up into green eyes.

"All of her attacks were airborne with nothing to follow up like a jutsu or even a taijutsu attack. Also, once all of her attacks were launched she had no more control. Her opponent is a wind user so anything in the air is fair game when she looses her jutsu, that fan being a large indicator of her skills. If Tenten had augmented her weapons with something like a fire justu, which is strong against wind, her chances would have been better."

"Oh." Naruto turned back to the duo on the floor, wincing slightly at Tenten's new position almost impaled on the end of the fan. Eri could feel the speculative and suspicious from the two nearest adults. The rest turned their attention back to the fight just in time to see the Sand female toss Tenten into the largest mass of fallen weapons. Thankfully Lee was quick enough to catch her, now if only he could control his anger better. He tuned out the short conversation between his master and Sakura, uncaring for her or her opinions, and listened to the medical report the Healer was giving the overgrown version of Lee concerning the girl. She was surprisingly resilient with only a good deal of bruising and minor fractions in her vertebra, meaning she would heal in no time.

The next match caught his interest as the fascinating Mr. Nara slumped down the stairs, grumbling about having to fight women.

"Ouji-sama, who do you think would win out of this fight?" this was a good time to get a feel for Naruto's grasp on his knowledge of his fellow ninja.

The blonde shrugged. "Dunno. Whoever has the best jutsu, I guess." a small frown creased the pale forehead, though his arms didn't loosen or move from their place on Naruto. The boy showed a hint of his perceptiveness by realizing something was wrong even though he could not see Eri's face. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing in particular, just..." he hesitated and instant and he could feel Kakashi sidling up beside them, likely to guard Naruto from any attack that Eri might suddenly let loose, "you have known Shikamaru-kun for quite a while and I am sure Sakura-san told you and your teammate about the sound team's capabilities. I thought you would have some idea of how this match would play out."

"Well if you put it like that," Naruto's face scrunched up into deep thought that Eri found adorable, "then Shikamaru's gonna win."

"What? Why do you say that?" Sakura squinted at the fighting boy who had just dodged a pair of senbon. "He doesn't look to be doing so well."

"Shika is super smart. Whenever I would sit beside him for a test he would just breeze through a bunch of answers before getting bored and falling asleep. He'll out think her." The blond nodded decisively, obviously proud of himself, and he was right. Within a few moments, that spiky haired Nara had captured and incapacitated the girl with only minor injuries to himself.

"Well done, Ouji-sama." he ruffled the wild blond locks and watched the screen for the next match-up. He was a little disappointed when his master's name popped up but Naruto was ecstatic.

"Well it's about time!Thanks for being patient, everyone! I'm going to make this worth your wait!"Naruto crowed with a fist pump. Eri released him reluctantly as a boy further down boasted just as loud and they both jumped the railing to face each other. Eri knew he could not interfere with this fight, and it would give him at least some indication towards Naruto's capabilities but he couldn't quite hold back his sighs.

"What exactly, are your intentions towards my students." Kakashi murmured lowly the moment the genin were distracted by the fight. Eri could hear the threat in the tone, though he looked as blasè as ever. It was also obvious that the man was only a hairs-breath away from snatching him up and killing him away from the children's eyes., and he was strong enough to do it too.

"My intentions are whatever my Master wishes them to be." He smiled as Naruto stood up from the Dog-Boy's first hit.

"And Naruto is your Master?" he was blatantly sceptical and Eri couldn't really blame him. He nodded instead of answering, watching as the blonde was trapped in the blinding cloud of smoke. He slapped a bandaged hand over his mouth, shoulders shaking with repressed mirth as Naruto puffed out of his puppy disguise and complained about the taste. Kakashi seemed to relax a little beside him, "He's still a prankster. That was well timed."

"More than that." Eri could feel the pride in his master radiating off of himself, "For a boy that prides himself on his connection to his canine partner, he couldn't tell the difference." The grown man grunted and his one eye widened slightly, showing his surprise. Eri frowned, however, when Dog-Boy brought the pills into the fight. He listened to Heavy-Set's explanation on the little pellets and worried slightly about the ramifications it would have on the fight. He knew that Dog-Boy's team had reached the tower earlier than his master, giving him time to rest, while Naruto had come in to the preliminaries directly after surviving the forest. His little master was not at his best and there was no mercy in this battle.

Kakashi was wary of the mysterious stranger claiming servitude to his more susceptible student, when it came to affection, after apparently 'saving' him from a group of foreign nin. He didn't look dangerous, with his slim build and innocent aura, but that had never been an indicator to power before. The hunter, Haku, was a prime example. It didn't help that his choice of clothing was highly distracting. Who wrapped themselves completely in bandages with only a skirt to keep the perverts at bay? He wasn't the only one curious about the boy, he couldn't be older than seventeen, as Kakashi had caught more than one Jounin watching the odd interaction between Eri and the orange clad blond. The Hokage in particular was giving him the Eye.

The silver-haired Jounin's entire body tensed as he felt the slim, pale hand on his arm tighten its grip. He cursed himself in his own head because he hadn't felt the first touch. He noticed that Naruto was getting tossed around by a spiralling duo attack by Kiba and Akamaru-transformed-into-Kiba, and that deceptively delicate hand convulsed with every hit. It only took a glance at the sharp features and intense green eyes to see that the male was genuinely upset at the damage Naruto was taking. Abruptly, that same grip lessened and Kakashi's single witnessed a jubilant smile soften the features into something strangely captivating.

"You wish to know why I chose to serve Naruto-sama?" That smooth smoky voice, that he had been too distracted to notice before, was like a wave washing over his senses so it took him a few precious seconds to register the meaning.

"Yes." he tore his gaze away, noticing again that he was not the only one having to do so, to see his student dragging himself to his feet in the face of a gloating adversary. He couldn't help the sense of pride that swelled in his chest.

"He _inspires._" and Kakashi could not dispute that at all.

**AN: **I had planned out more for this chapter but when I got to this point it seemed like the perfect ending. Don't worry I still have a lot to type out so the next chapter should be coming out fater than this one but no promises. I do want to thank everyone who suggested names for Eri, especially Talia Gea and Seithr-Kairy for the suggestions for his name and the reasoning behind them. Some I think I might use either in this story or in others so thank you again. A wondrous thing has occurred as someone has drawn a fan art for my story! This is the first time EVER! Please go check it out at [ deathnotemaker. deviantart #/ d39evyh ] and [ deathnotemaker. deviantart #/ d39ewdv ] by Shi Kami the Murderous Prodigy. Just remove the spaces of everything in the boxes.

Thank you all so much for the reviews and if you have any questions I tend to reply in PM's so I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Until next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Warnings: **they will crop up as I think of them. If I miss some I apologize for any trauma that may occur. Yaoi, language, abuse, maybe torture, battles and blood.

**Pairings:** Naruto will _not _be paired with Eri though their closeness will bring forth the jealousy of others. One sided Sasu/naru and Sasu/Eri but I don't like the Emo king so he gets dumped. I have a few ideas but things are still up in the air. Just because someone looks like they are a match for the boys does not mean they are. Suggestions welcome.

** = change of POV

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing!

**Chapter 3:**

Sakura didn't know what to make of their strange saviour. He was mysterious and obviously strong but she just couldn't connect the image of the awesome power she had witnessed in the forest to the figure draped over Kakashi-sensei's arm, laughing uproariously at Naruto's wind-breaker attack. Her sensei looked uncomfortable with the stranger's body leaning so heavily on him, a pale hand clutching at his flack jacket to keep his balance, but Sakura's keen gossipers sense caught the pink flush to his ears that was one of the few bits of uncovered Kakashi-flesh. Her face scrunched up in disgust for a moment. Sakura would admit that Eri was attractive, if rather androgynous, but he was nothing compared to Sasuke-kun. She had seen the looks that allot of the men were giving the servant and couldn't figure out why they didn't realize that he was a guy. The lack of any chest at all was a dead giveaway and his voice was far too low so why... unless they _knew_ he was a guy and liked him anyways. She shuddered until the image of an unmasked, though she had no idea what his real face looked like her inner-self was positive that he was handsome, Kakashi bending a pliant Eri backwards, with a hand in his hair and an arm about his smaller waist, just moments away from ravishing the brunette's mouth. A small trickle of blood escaped her nose as the idea settled in her head. Perhaps two men together was not such a bad idea as long as it wasn't her Sasuke-kun. Another unwelcome image came to her of two boys in the same position only this time it was Sasuke and Naruto stuck in the deep embrace. She nearly screamed in horror.

A cry from the battle ground below brought her back to reality and she witnessed Naruto's clones kicking Kiba up into the air, one clone rolling in the air above them all to give momentum to the kick that slammed the Inuzuka into the ground. "Kakashi-sensei, wasn't that..."

She turned to her teacher who was nodding. A calmer, upright Eri glanced between them, his hand removed from the Jounin's flack jacket. "That was what?"

Kakashi, who was looking relieved at having at least a bit of his personal space back, explained. "His teammate, Sasuke, used the same kind of attack earlier in the preliminaries. Without the clones. Even the name is similar."

"He only saw this attack once?" Kakashi nodded, "And he was able to adapt it to his own use with only that small glimpse without the help of an eye enhancing clan technique?"

The Jounin blinked rapidly, "... yeah."

Sakura found herself gaping at the implications. If even Kakashi missed something like that in the blonde idiot they all knew than what else had they missed.

Naruto came bounding up the stairs after he was announced the winner, pausing only once to receive a tin of healing salve from a shy, dark-haired girl. "Eri-Chan! Eri-Chan didja see that? Didja? I totally kicked his but!"

Eri laughed softly, dropping to one knee to enfold the blond in a hug. "I most certainly did, Ouji-sama. You fought bravely." Naruto's face flamed when Eri gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now lets see to those wounds."

"Oh yeah! That weird girl, Hinata, gave me this stuff." He held out the can and the brunette plucked it out of his grasp.

"Jacket off, Ouji-sama, so I can get to the wounds on your torso." Naruto was obedient in the action, still blushing,even going so far as to lift his shirt when Eri was done with his arms.

"This stuff works great," Naruto noticed as the wounds themselves seem to smoke then seal over, "you should try it Sakura-chan." Eri said nothing, only smiling as he finished and held two glowing fingers up in front of the blonds chest. Quick, smooth motions had a golden symbol hanging in the air until Eri pressed it into the tanned chest. It sunk into the skin, the glow spreading, then disappeared. Kakashi twitched behind him but the only result of his actions was a sever reduction of the bruising covering his master. "Whoa, what was that?"

"A healing Rune. Meant to accelerate the reproduction of cells and promote good health."

"Cool. Can they do other things?"

Eri nodded, handing the boy back his jacket. "They can do a good deal. Depending on your imagination and knowledge, you can make have them do anything. Much like your sealing."

"Are there drawbacks to the rune you used?" Kakashi's suspicion was back, full throttle.

"Only to myself, as it is my power being used to heal him. Look Ouji-sama, the girl that helped you is fighting next." Indeed she was standing before a boy that held a surprising resemblance to her. She was a painfully timid little thing, and her opponent, her apparent cousin, used that against her. Eri half expected the outcry that came from his master, not surprised that his words had an immediate affect on the girl. He had to admire the two cousins in their fighting style, nearly mirror images of each other with only a few differences separating them. This would be a good opportunity to show his master the importance of observation. "Ouji-sama, do you see it?"

"See what?" Naruto squinted at the fighters.

"The difference between them. The stances are the same but used in different ways. Can you spot the variance?"

Naruto scratched his head, frowning at the duo. "Well... that Neji guy is stronger, physically, cause she gets hurt more when he lands a blow but she's... I dunno, smoother I guess."

Eri ruffled the blond locks with a smile, "Correct, Ouji-sama, Hinata-san is far more graceful with an added flexibility that allows her to avoid most of the more damaging hits. Neji-san on the other hand has the advantage in both speed and strength so while he may not get as many hits in, the one's he does have more impact." His point was prove by the unveiling of Hinata's bruised arm. The rest of the match was almost painful to watch and Eri was disappointed in both of the Hyuuga's. Hinata for her complete disregard for her own safety, no matter how inspired or determined she was. Throwing her life away for a preliminary match, that would do nothing to change the circumstances of her family, showed that she had very little self worth and would need to fix that before Eri would consider her worthy of his master. Neji was a let down because he let personal issues cloud his mind in battle as well as use the younger girl as a scapegoat for his anger. He would need to realize that she was just as powerless as he was in their family destiny. So far Eri found that only Shikamaru-of-the-spiky-hair and the ever stoic Shino were worthy of his master's affections for now.

When Neji made a serious attempt on the girl's life, Eri followed his master to the battle grounds without question, hurling himself over the railing lightly. He was across from his master and a beautiful woman, that he assumed was Hinata's instructor, as the blonde caught and lowered the girl gently.

"C-can you do anything for her?" bright blue eyes stared into his own forest green pleadingly. "Like that stuff you did to me?"

"I can," he didn't look to the girl, his eyes assessing the determination in his masters face, "but only with your command."

"Wh-what?"

Eri ignored all those around him, from the Hyuuga boy to the various Jounin, listening in. "My skills are meant for you only. Be it to protect or heal you, or to be used at your orders. If you wish for me to help her, you must order it. This is what you agreed to when you gave me a name."

Naruto's eyes were wide and confuse, a bit of fear seeping into the blue depths, but Eri kept his expression firm. Hinata coughed sharply, blood spraying her face and jacket in little bubbles. The female beside them gasped and cried out for the medics. The Jinchuuriki's countenance hardened. "Do it."

A flare of anticipation rose in Eri. "Do what, Ouji-sama?"

His voice was hard and unyielding, something none of them had ever heard from the blonde. "I order you to do everything you can to help her."

"As you wish, Master." His head bowed slightly but his satisfied smile was visible to all. With efficient movements he unzipped the girls jacket and pushed up her undershirt to expose her belly. The medic ninja tried to get him to move but he ignored them like all the rest. Once again his fingertips glowed with a golden light and he began drawing patterns in the air in front of him. More intricate than the rune he had used for Naruto, a stream of interlocking symbols formed in a half circle around him. He double checked them with a glance before flaring the golden power to engulf the entirety of his hand. With a sweeping gesture, the runes seemed to fold together into his palm and he pressed them firmly into her pale stomach. Golden lines raced across her skin, under her clothing, until they covered her entire body with a design reminiscent of curling smoke, that pulsed with her heartbeat until it evened out, fading even as her complexion improved.

Eri inhaled deeply as he removed his hand, shivering slightly as the sudden loss of so much power washed over him. It would take only moments to regain the loss but his master had said to do everything he could and his 'everything' was allot. He rocked to his feet, stumbling back into Kakashi when the Medics rushed in. Their awed murmurs told him that his attempt was a success and made a note to himself to explain the advantages the girl would now have to adapt to.

"Hmph." the pale eyed teen scoffed once the rest of the Jounin released him, sure that he would not attack the downed girl again. "More special treatment for the Hyuuga Main branch." His eyes glared at Eri in an attempt to intimidate the older male. The recovering newcomer didn't even glance in his direction, he was so far beneath his notice.

"Eri-Chan listens to no one but me, Teme." Naruto snarled, standing now that the medics had carted the Hyuuga girl off to the clinic. Eri felt Kakashi twitch behind him even as his arm wrapped around him in support. He allowed the touch because his power was returning slower than he had anticipated and this was a man that his master trusted more than most. "I had him help because she's weird but nice and stronger than you will ever be."

Neji just sneered, "A couple words of advice, Mr. Failure. A true shinobi would have too much class to make a spectacle of himself by cheering during a serious match. And one more thing..." he turned away and Eri almost laughed at the dramatics, "you may as well accept who you are. Once a failure, always a failure."

Eri watched with interest as the anger built in his master, which was something they would have to work on, and his sky blue eyes start to darken into storm clouds, not that anyone but him noticed. The orange clad ninja made to charge the Branch member but a blur of green spandex intercepted him.

"What!"

"I understand, almost painfully well, what you're feeling Naruto, but we have to limit our battles to the confines of the scheduled fights." the same boy that had come to his master's aid in the forest had done so once again. Apparently the two had bonded at some point in the exams, and that was enough to actually calm the blonde enough to listen to the older boy. Lee continued, unaware of the rarity he was being awarded... Naruto's full attention. "The prospect of seeing a 'Failure' defeat a 'Genius' through sheer force of will... it really makes you look forward to the final rounds, eh? Even though his opponent could very well be me! But if it's you in the finals, Naruto, then I'll have no regrets."

"Yeah," Naruto grumbled, letting the older boy relax, "I get it." He walked away a few steps to glare at a small puddle of Hinata's blood. The group of ninjas, plus one, watched as he stooped to drag his fingers through it, coating his fingers. He stood again and held his dripping fist out to a curious Neji. "I vow to win."

Eri could hear the scepticism from some of the ninja still on the balconies but the ones on the ground level heard the absolute conviction in the boy. Neji scoffed and walked away, only Lee and his full grown clone taking the blonde seriously. A loud cough interrupted the melodrama making all eyes turn to an annoyed proctor.

"As fascinating as all this is, we have preliminaries to finish so if you please vacate to the balcony." It was a group of sheepish genin that trudged up the stairs. Eri blinked when the room disappeared with a strangely familiar tug to his navel only to re-appear from a different angle on the balcony, wisps of smoke fading from around them. He recognized it as a transportation technique that was incomplete. Furrows appeared on his brow as he tried to remember the completed form but it slipped through his fingers until he was distracted by Sakura catching up with Kakashi and himself and he found she was alone. He leaned forward slightly to see past Uber-Lee and noticed that his little master had been sidetracked by the Face-Paint suna-nin. Eri moved to slip out of the arms of the Grey-One only to find that the one arm was like a steel band around his waist. The proctor called out the next match below them and Lee made a fuss about wanting to be the last to fight, but Eri wasn't listening.

"Please let me go Hatake-san." He tried politely first. He could practically feel the eye smile aimed at the back of his head.

"How about you keep me company for a while? After this I'm sure the Hokage would love to meet you." Eri knew what that meant and weighed the advantages of complying. He craned his neck to stare into that single grey eye, judging the man's worth. Eri knew he could easily escape, though he was not as strong or as fast as the elder ninja in the room, with a thought. The problem was that it would cause a problem for his master and might even keep him from the access he needed to serve well enough. Not to mention that any damage to those his master cared for would be frowned upon. The arm around him trembled slightly and Eri realized that he was unnerving the man, who he was sure was recognizing that he wasn't some ninja that he could overpower.

"Very well." he gave in, relaxed fully in Kakashi's arms and returning his attention to the match, Lee having just vaulted the rails to fight the blank face suna-boy.

Kakashi began to sweat a little from both the position Eri had put himself in, leaning forward to use his restraining arm as an elbow support while his lower half pressed into his hipbone, and the various glares from a number of males. Kakashi was keenly aware of two facts at this point. Firstly, Eri was carrying absolutely no weapons under that skirt. In point of fact, there was nothing below the skirt besides bandages and skin, and the copy-nin was both cursing and blessing his advanced senses. Secondly, the boy, and he had to keep reminding himself of the fact that Eri was barely out of his teens, had no clue as to what he was doing to him. There was no seduction in his body language or lure in his voice, only pure innocence and it was driving him up the wall.

"Oh my. How odd." Thank Kami, a distraction.

"Hmm?" he tried for casual disinterest.

"That sand of his," the raven nodded to the living sand that was protecting the red-headed boy from Lee's hits, "It is completely subconscious in its protection of the boy."

"How can you tell?"

"It's incredibly fast for such a heavy material against hits that the boy should not be able to see but is slower when it is used to attack." Kakashi watched the fight a bit closer and saw that it was true, "I suppose it must be connected to his instincts so he has to consciously force it to attack, cutting down on its response time."

Kakashi stared down at the silky head of hair, "And you saw this in a matter of seconds?"

Green eyes flashed back to meet his once more and he suddenly felt supremely dense. "These are opponents that my master may be facing in the future. He might need to have this information to prepare."

Kakashi felt it best to leave it at that. Gai startled most of the people around them when he suddenly cut his explanation to the pinkette short with a yell. "Lee! Take them off!"

"What is there to take off? His clothing, perhaps?" Eri mumbled, making Kakashi choke.

"B-but Master! You said never to do that unless I was defending the lives of people who are precious to me!"

"It's all right! I'll allow it!" they all watched in morbid fascination as the spandex wearing boy slipped off the orange leg warmers to unclasp a set of weights on each leg. The words 'guts' and 'hard work' were written on each pouch, displaying the boy's motto to the world. Eri could feel Kakashi's sweat-drop at the the idea of such training but he saw the merits. The ridiculousness of the situation grew when Lee dropped the weights, creating decent sized craters on either side of the Hand Seal statue.

"That poor boy." Eri immediately saw the problem.

"What's the matter?" Gai asked, interested in the observant stranger's assessment of his prized pupil.

"His strength and speed are amazing," Eri admitted, watching the boy reign blow after blow on the suna-boy faster than the sand could keep up, "but it looks like you haven't trained him much in this state. He is wearing down quickly and his body is having difficulty adjusting to the lack of resistance. If he only pulls some muscles in this fight you will be lucky. Not to mention that this is the worst possible match up for him as he doesn't have the stamina to keep up a war of physical attrition."

Gai blinked rapidly for a moment, the Copy-nin had to look away to keep from chuckling, before he got his passion back. "There is more to my Lee than you know. He will triumph over any adversity he is faced with and show the world that he is in the springtime of his youth!"

Lee seemed to agree as he pulled another feint, drawing the sand behind the red-head only smash a fist into his face from the front. Gaara went flying back, only his sand cushioning his fall. Eri tensed as a familiar feeling tickled his senses and his eyes fixed on the hunched figure facing Lee. Chunks of hardened sand dropped to the floor revealing the true expression of the suna-boy, and the madness that lurked beneath. Elation and despair swept through him in equal measure as he realized that there was another like him out there, bound to a soul not his own, only this one had lost itself to the darkness that he himself had barely escaped. Eri couldn't tell which one it was but it was one of his siblings, nonetheless. He would have to warn his Master in case he faced Gaara in the finals.

The coating of sand reformed around the suna-boy, leaving him as impassive as ever, but Lee did not go back on attack, taking the time to catch his breath and come up with a plan. A glance and a nod to Gai had the boy partially unwrapping his arms before taking off at high speeds. In a blur, a kick to Gaara's chin launched him into the air, followed by numerous rapid fire kicks that drove him up faster than the sand could catch. For a brief second Eri and a number of the Jounin saw Lee flinch from the pain in his limbs and that was enough. Gaara used that bare second to jump out of his sand skin and Lee finished his technique with the decoy, injuring himself in the process. Most of the Genin watched with bated breath, a few cheering for Lee, until the sand shell collapsed on itself. Gaara rose from a pile of sand behind lee and set his sand to attack the taijutsu fighter, driving him into a wall.

"Why doesn't Lee just duck?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"The lotus technique he just used is a double edged sword." Gai explained reluctantly.

"Huh?"

"Fundamentally it's a forbidden move. Using that level of high-speed taijutsu puts a huge strain on the body." Kakashi answered, watching Lee get tossed around like a rag doll. "Right now, Lee's nothing but a mass of pain and weakness... isn't that right Gai?"

Eri frowned at the disapproval in Kakashi's voice. With how little the man had taught his own students he really wasn't one to be passing judgement. He looked over to see Gai's reaction and found it strange that the man simply stood there with a soft smile on his face. There were gasps from the spectators as Lee suddenly avoided a blow with speed that was a little less than when he first took off the weights. Eri was impressed with his endurance but he knew that the pain was still there. He tuned out the conversations around him once again, though they were talking about something called the Gates, to focus on something that was building in the bowl-cut boy. It was chakra only it had no outlet like most humans, instead it seemed to seep into the very cells of his body supercharging the muscles and pushing most of his blood to the surface. Kakashi tensed behind him, having already unveiled his curious red eye, and pulled Eri flush against him in his excitement.

Lee burst into motion and Eri flicked up a shield that encompassed their side of the balcony against the wind pressure and stone debris. It was gone almost as soon as he had put it up but the Jounins still noticed. Gaara was defenceless against Lee's new strength so it was no surprise that he was rocketed up into the air once more, flung from one point to another so hard that it created shock-waves in the air and his sand armour began to peel away. Winding up for a finishing blow, Eri felt another surge of power release from the boy, actually coating his limbs with chakra. Gaara was blown downwards with the punch only to jerk to a stop as one of Lee's bandages had been strapped to his midsection, so he was pulled up towards the advancing Lee. The impact broke through the sand armor completely and created a crater where he hit the ground. What non of the genin saw was the gourd strapped to Gaara's back melting to cushion his fall. Lee fell hard beside the wreckage, rolling away from his foe, and the dust cleared to reveal Gaara laid out in a cradle of sand. The few seconds of Lee's shock gave the suna-nin the time to wrap two of the genin's limbs in sand and brutally crush them. Eri felt Kakashi flinch behind him at Lee's scream and they could only watch as more sand rushed towards him.

Eri relaxed slightly when he felt Gai appear on the field between the student and his death. His eyes wandered to the Suna boy when he felt a flare of that same presence from before. Gaara was clutching his head like he was battling a headache and that made Eri frown. His alternate, the Kyuubi, had had no interaction with his master before he Naruto unconsciously called on him for power, but it looked like this Gaara was continually fighting for control. He wondered if their seals were different or was it because of the adaptability of his master's chakra coils. The mood of the room shifted once more and Eri looked over to find that Lee was standing once again, ready to fight. Guy's interference had insured his loss so Eri could not understand his tenacity, and then he let his senses wash over the boy.

Lee was no longer conscious, his body reacting on instinct and drive alone, and the very thought of the child having so little regard for himself was heartbreaking. Victory or Death was an old code that had killed too many good men, many of whom had fought against his alternate. Gai was weeping as the medics came to collect the boy and Kakashi said something to the pink-headed one to keep her from jumping into the arena, while Naruto had no such restraint. There was a few moments of tense silence as the looked over the boy until one pulled his teacher aside.

"Eri!" Naruto's voice broke through the air, and he was out of Kakashi's arms and beside his master before the Jounin even registered the yell. He was quick to follow, choosing to hover behind the two of them instead of detaining Eri again. "Can you do to Lee what you did for Hinata?"

Eri brushed his fingers against the comatose child, getting a read on his health, upset when he had to give his master a negative response. "Most of his muscles are torn and he has several shattered bones. Those would need to be reset and the bone fragments removed from the pulped flesh of his two limbs before I could aid him. Hinata-san just needed the strengthening of certain muscles and better flow in her chakra, while Lee-san needs far more attendance. Once he has been healed to a certain point then I can speed his recovery and prevent atrophy due to inaction." His little master clutched at skirt as they listened to the Medi-nin's prognosis. Naruto did not take it well, yelling at the retreating backs of the Medics, but Kakashi stepped in, holding him back, to talk him down. Naruto turned back to Eri for comfort when he was released and the Grey-one approached the devastated Gai.

"Gai." the other man did not respond so he continued, "I said some really arrogant things to you earlier but when I really think about it... If I were in your circumstances, I probably wouldn't have been able to stop my student either." his single eye glanced at Naruto and Eri couldn't help but smile at the man for his efforts to comfort his friend. The grey ninja looked away, his ears flushed pink, "Gai, we're in the way for the next match. Come on, lets go upstairs."

It took a moment but Gai's shoulders slumped slightly as he quietly agreed. They made their way up the stairs together, Kakashi's hand resting against the small of Eri's back in a bid to keep him from escaping again. The last battle was a simple affair with the Sound boy, Dosu, taking out the heavyset child of Shikamaru's team.

"Ouji-sama." Eri stopped Naruto from jumping into the arena with the more excitable Nin, "Kakashi-san has told me that your Hokage wishes to speak with me."

"Eh? You're gonna go see Jiji? When?"

"After the preliminaries end, I suppose. I might not be here when you are finished but if you need anything just call out to me and I will find you." he ran a hand through the soft blond locks of his Master.

"Ha! No worries." Naruto beamed up at him. "I'll be eating some victory ramen. Kakashi-sensei knows where it is so he can bring ya by when you're done." The two men watched him bound off to join the others.

"Not planning to run away?" The Grey-one whispered in his ear, his arm once again slipping around him.

"It would upset my Master. He respects you and loves the Hokage so it is better not to be at odds with you."

"Then you will stay by my side no matter what until the Sandaime has given you leave to wander the village. Understood?" the arm around him tightened and Eri could feel his ribs creak at the press. This body seemed to be fairly weak compared to the rest of the Ninja's, something that Kakashi seemed to notice for his grip eased almost immediately. Eri had done nothing aggressive or damaging towards any of the Konoha Genin so breaking his ribs to make a point was really unnecessary.

"As you wish." He made no indication of the pain that was slowly fading in his ribs, instead drawing a small rune and pressing it into the gloved hand against his waist. He explained carefully when the man stiffened at the act. "Now I will always be able to fine you."

"Next time, ask." he hissed, and Eri nodded. Sakura distracted the man from their whispered conversation by asking his about the angry child in their team. She must have said something to set him off because suddenly he was being jerked to a new location and hoisted into he Copy-nin's arms.

"Has something happened?" he was mildly confused but went with the flow of the moment.

"Just a hunch. If something is wrong then I want you to protect my student no matter what." he jumped from rooftop to rooftop of a thriving village as he spoke, and Eri supposed that this was the main area of Konoha.

"You speak of the Angry one?"

Kakashi snorted at the description, "Yeah, also know as Sasuke."

Within moments they were inside a very sterile building. Kakashi set him on his feet and Eri dutifully followed behind as he approached a set of double doors that led to a private room on one of the topmost floors. There was one body laying prone in the doorway and he could sense at least two more in the room besides the two living souls. Seeing that the Copy-nin was no longer paying attention to him, Eri slipped on his invisibility once more and slid into the room while the larger male addressed the same boy that had travelled with his Master during the second test. Working his way around the room he sat himself on the bed directly behind the white-haired teen, being careful not to disturb the sheets. Ever so slowly, so that neither of the men could feel the power build, he erected a shield that hovered bare inches above the sleeping child. Satisfied with his work he turned back to the face-off happening in front of him, watching as Kakashi attempted to intimidate the boy into answering his questions while he, Kabuto, responded with snarky comebacks meant to enrage and distract his opponent. Then he heard it, that hated name, and the rage of the Mother flooded his mind.

His body reacted before either men registered the dropping of his invisibility, his legs slipping around his waist to trap him against his body, one hand grabbing the blade that almost touched the shield covering Sasuke, the other jerking Kabuto's head to the side to expose his neck.

"Orochimaru you say." He purred directly into his ear. It had no effect on the body in his arms but it did cause Kakashi to shiver, "And what is your connection to the Abomination?" A sliver of power paralysed his captive, who seemed unworried for his prone position. Looking deeper, Eri found out why.

"Now what would happen to me if I told you that?" he smirked at the approaching Kakashi.

Eri pulled away from the creature in disgust, "I might have threatened to kill you but this body is already dead." he dropped the thing to the floor the same moment that one of the corpses jumped up to make for the door. It was met by a clone of Kakashi, where it paused long enough to be surrounded by the original. It was a tense moment until the other corpse, this one with the actual spark of life within, broke through the window and jumped. Kakashi rushed to the ledge but the boy was too far. He turned to yell at the younger male for not doing something but he froze at the sight he was met with.

Eri had slid partially off the bed and onto his knees, gasping as he clutched the white sheets. Kakashi rushed to his side, bushing the black hair away from his pale and sweaty face and pressing his fingers to his pulse. Eri's skin was cold to the touch and his pulse was slightly rapid, but what worried Kakashi the most was that there had been no indication of illness before now.

"What is it? What is happening?" He asked urgently.

"Poison..." he gasped, "on the blade...is he...he gone?"

"Yeah, he's gone. Just hold on and I'll get the medics."

"No.. no point." the shield that had surrounded Sasuke disappeared with a brief flair, relieving a bit of tension that had been gripping Kakashi's gut. Eri slumped into the Ninja, breathing already getting steadier and when he spoke again he was only panting lightly."I used too much today. Too much power and no rest. Could not fight the poison and hold the shield."

Kakashi stared down at the face that was rapidly regaining its colour and clear ethereal emerald eyes. "Thank you."

Once again that hand was touching him before he even noticed, patting his cheek. "Lets us go meet you leader."

**A/N:** Chapter DONE! I am so so sorry about the wait. I have moved a total of 3 times in the last year and a half, twice across the country, and once to a place with no access to internet. So yeah, sorry about the wait, but thank you all for your support and reviews. They kept me writing , in my note books at least, and i read every single one of them. I love all the different opinions and suggestions and i do respond in PM's if there are any questions so ask away.

Not to mention that DeathNoteMaker has put up the first pages of the fan made LtBA manga on deviant art. They do some beautiful work, check it out.

Than you all and until next Chapter.

-Nys-


End file.
